Raymond James Reiterates “Strong-Buy” Rating for UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH)

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH)‘s stock had its “strong-buy” rating reissued by Raymond James in a report released on Monday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $540.00 price objective on the healthcare conglomerate’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $635.00. Raymond James’ price objective indicates a potential upside of 24.93% from the company’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on UNH. Mizuho increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $600.00 to $650.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. HSBC raised shares of UnitedHealth Group from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $595.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Friday, January 10th. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of UnitedHealth Group from $655.00 to $642.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, January 17th. Piper Sandler decreased their price objective on UnitedHealth Group from $605.00 to $600.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 2nd. Finally, Truist Financial increased their price target on UnitedHealth Group from $610.00 to $660.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, April 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, twenty have given a buy rating and four have issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $626.52.

UnitedHealth Group Stock Performance

Shares of UNH stock traded down $21.87 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $432.24. The stock had a trading volume of 2,545,194 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,358,803. The firm has a market cap of $395.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.94, a PEG ratio of 1.37 and a beta of 0.61. UnitedHealth Group has a 1-year low of $432.40 and a 1-year high of $630.73. The business’s fifty day moving average is $512.95 and its 200-day moving average is $539.93. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.74.

UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 17th. The healthcare conglomerate reported $7.20 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $7.29 by ($0.09). The company had revenue of $109.58 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $111.56 billion. UnitedHealth Group had a net margin of 3.60% and a return on equity of 26.69%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $6.91 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that UnitedHealth Group will post 29.54 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On UnitedHealth Group

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Howard Capital Management Group LLC acquired a new stake in UnitedHealth Group in the third quarter valued at $341,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,778,636 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $1,039,933,000 after acquiring an additional 180,479 shares during the period. McIlrath & Eck LLC grew its stake in shares of UnitedHealth Group by 8.2% during the 3rd quarter. McIlrath & Eck LLC now owns 635 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock valued at $371,000 after buying an additional 48 shares during the period. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. increased its stake in UnitedHealth Group by 3.7% during the third quarter. SOA Wealth Advisors LLC. now owns 1,275 shares of the healthcare conglomerate’s stock worth $746,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new position in UnitedHealth Group during the third quarter valued at approximately $900,000. 87.86% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About UnitedHealth Group

UnitedHealth Group Incorporated operates as a diversified health care company in the United States. The company operates through four segments: UnitedHealthcare, Optum Health, Optum Insight, and Optum Rx. The UnitedHealthcare segment offers consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services for national employers, public sector employers, mid-sized employers, small businesses, and individuals; health care coverage, and health and well-being services to individuals age 50 and older addressing their needs; Medicaid plans, children's health insurance and health care programs; and health and dental benefits, and hospital and clinical services, as well as health care benefits products and services to state programs caring for the economically disadvantaged, medically underserved, and those without the benefit of employer-funded health care coverage.